Windows Embedded Chat

Posted May 1, 2004

Chat Date: April 22, 2004

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Introduction

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
Welcome to today's Chat. Our topic covers Windows CE .NET and Windows XP Embedded AND the .NET Compact Framework. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
Let’s introduce our hosts for today.

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Hi, I'm Mike Hall, a Technical Product Manager in the Mobile and Embedded Devices Group (I was the speaker at the Windows Embedded Essentials events in Bangalore)

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Jon Fincher, Windows XP Embedded Strike Team

Host: aaronru (Microsoft)
Hello, I am Aaron, the .NET Compact Framework's Builder

Host: ChipS (Microsoft)
Hello. My name is Chip Schnarel. I am Group Program Manager for Windows CE. Welcome!

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Ravi Gopal, Windows XP Embedded Product Manager.

Host: Andy (Microsoft)
Andy Allred, I'm the Test Lead for the Windows XP Embedded team.

Host: MikeThom (Microsoft)
I am Mike Thomson, Lead Program Manager in Windows CE..

Host: Nandini (Microsoft)
I am Nandini Shenoy, I work on Embedded Enabling Features for XP Embedded.

Host: anandsr (Microsoft)
Anand Srinivasan, Windows Emvbedded developer

Host: Stewart (Microsoft)
Stewart Tansley, MS Research, University Relations, Embedded Systems specialist

Host: abathula (Microsoft)
Avinash Bathula, I am a dev inn Win CE.

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
Welcome everyone, let’s get started!

Start of Chat

Host: aaronru (Microsoft)
Q: how come there are so many experts today normally there are 2 – 3
A: At Microsoft, we are trying to make a conscious effort to strengthen and enhance an open relationship with the community

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Q: I have evc4.0 and VS 2003 installed. They seem to have different emulator versions One is 4.0 and one is 4.1 How can I use the eVC tools (specifically ceregedt.exe on the VS 2003 emulator?
A: The easiest way to achieve this is to use Platform Builder to generate a custom Windows CE .NET operating system, then have eVC connect over KITL/CESH and Visual Studio .NET connect over TCP/IP - the following article will show you how to hook up Visual Studio .NET to a Platform Builder generated operating system image - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/aa459145.aspx

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Q: I don't have platform builder, just VS2003 and evc4
A: You can download the Windows CE .NET evaluation kit from this site - then you will have everything you need...

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Q: Any problem with loading the 4.2.net eval from that link with the 4.1 and 4.0 emulators that are on my machine now? My astual target HW is 4.1.
A: No, they all work nicely together - I have Visual Studio .NET 2003, eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0, and Platform Builder 4.2 on my development PC.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: What are the security features in XP?
A: Assuming you mean Windows XP Embedded, since we are based on the same binaries as Windows XP Professional, you get access to all the security enhancements going into the desktop version of the product. For example, in the current release of both products, we have an Internet Connection Firewall, support for Smart Card encryption and Kerberos authentication. In the next release of both products, Service Pack 2 (due later this year), you will see enhancements to the Firewall, a hardened Internet Explorer & much more. The focus of Service Pack 2 (for both Windows XP Professional & Windows XP Embedded) is security. It is the #1 priority within the company.

A: You can play with Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 here -- https://msdn2.microsoft.com/security/aa570371.aspx

Host: ssriniva (Microsoft)
Q: I have read that Windows CE supports Bluetooth can you elaborate on that?
A: Bluetooth core spec (L2CAP, RFCOMM etc.) has been supported since CE 4.0

Bluetooth profiles (Dialup Networking, LAN Access, OBEX based profiles) are supported as well

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Q: I am a novice in building applications for smart devices! Can you give me some idea as to where do I get started from
A: You need Visual Studio .NET 2003 to develop smart device applications - there are a number of samples that ship with Visual Studio .NET, and you may also want to take a look at the Microsoft Press Compact Framework Core reference - https://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/5960.asp

Host: ChipS (Microsoft)
Q: Are there any planned security enhancements to WindowsCE? For instance, file permissions, similar to XP.
A: There are a number of security enhancements including advanced authentication and encryption algorithms. While no integrated file permissions are planned for the next release the filesys implementation is layered so that encryption could be inserted by a 3rd party.

Host: Nandini (Microsoft)
Q: I have XPE running on a CF with EWF RAM.XP keeps on logging info to files: C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SOFTWARE.LOG, SECURITY.LOG etc. and as a consequences the RAM of the write filter is filled up.
A: I am not sure if you can disable these log files or move them to other partition. But there are Event log files which can be redirected to a folder on the unprotected volume by editing the following registry keys:

System Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application
Value : "<unprotected volume path>\AppEvent.evt" .

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Security
Value: "<Unprotected Volume path>\SecEvent.evt"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System
Value: "<Unprotected Volume path>\SysEvent.evt"

Host: ChipS (Microsoft)
Q: What are the drawbacks of using windows ce.net programming interfaces?
A: Not a single thing! :-) More seriously, the API set for Windows CE provides a rich set of functionality targeted at devices. It is a subset of the desktop Win32 and .NET frameworks.

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
Q: Are there any online ebooks or stuff! for developing targeted towards smart devices?
A: Not sure about online books per se, but there's a lot of good stuff at places like pocketpcdn.com, devbuzz.com, msdn.microsoft.com/mobility.

Host: MikeThom (Microsoft)
Q: How can I play multiple wav files at once? When I play two on different threads with PInvoke PlaySound(), the second one to start stops the first one from playing. They are played on different threads.
A: You need to have a look at the 'wave' API for controlling the device. The player is not using PlaySound and the audio driver is mixing the content in the end.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: What are the new features in CE & XPE that can excite us?
A: In Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2, the #1 focus is security. As a result, we are rolling out a new Windows Firewall and a hardened Internet Explorer that blocks pop-ups and also blocks unknown/unsigned ActiveX controls, among other benefits.

Additionally, we are providing components for Windows XP Professional features, such as Windows Media Player 9, DirectX 9, a Bluetooth Stack, Remote Desktop Protocol Version 5.2 & the .NET Framework V1.1.

Over the long-term, we have revolutionary innovations that will be going into "Longhorn" Embedded, the code name for the next major release of the embedded product, slated to ship in the 2005+ timeline along with "Longhorn" Client.

Host: ChipS (Microsoft)
Q: What are the new features in CE & XPE that can excite us?
A: There are literally hundreds of new features in the next release of Windows CE. I don't think that anything has been publicly announced yet, but I will give you some hints...

There are great new features that will make it easier to bring devices to market.

There are new A/V media features.

There are many new networking features particularly for wireless.

There are new features for gathering data about device quality in the field.

Host: Andy (Microsoft)
Q: There is another file C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\ntuser.dat.LOG which XP also writes to periodically. How can I reroute or disable that?
A: Sorry, I don't know if it's possible to reroute the user profile log files generated. I'll look into this, if it's possible then it can probably be tweaked in the Policy settings with other user profile settings. If you need more assistance please start a thread in the XPEmbedded public newsgroup and we'll help out. Thanks

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: Can we create our own policies in XP?
A: Yes, using the Group Policy Editor. There is a component for this in XPE Target Designer.

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Q: I never new about this limit [32 process limit on WindowsCE]. Why is there a limit on number of processes?
A: Doug Boling covers the architecture of the operating system in the following article - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/ms836325.aspx

The article includes information on the number of supported processes, amount of memory per process, DLL loading - you may also be interested in taking a look at the MSPRess book "Inside Windows CE"

Host: ChipS (Microsoft)
Q: Could the number of processes [in Windows CE] at least be doubled?
A: Microsoft is considering such a change for a future version of Windows CE.

Host: ChipS (Microsoft)
Q: Why [would a] change [to the number of processes be] in the future?
A: To change the OS at this level would potentially have repercussions across the entire system. Such a change must be carefully considered and _very_ well tested!

Host: aaronru (Microsoft)
Q: How can I tell that the remote end has disconnected a TCP socket as soon as it happens, the same way my telnet client does. I have been unable unless one end tries to send. I am using the System.Net.Sockets.Socket class.
A: Please email edevfdbk@microsoft.com and resend your question. It will be forwarded to the right people. I promise that someone will look at this.

Host: ssriniva (Microsoft)
Q: Can CE.NET 4.1 be set up as a RAS server using PPTP? Any limit on the number of clients? Any ‘howto’ docs?
A: Yes. I believe the default number of VPN lines is 10 - I don't think there is a ‘howto’ doc.

Host: Mikehall (Microsoft)
Q: We are having difficulties getting .NET applications to run on our CE 4.2 build....
A: Take a look at the following document on MSDN - this describes how to connect Visual Studio to Windows CE .NET https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnembedded/html/embedded04012003.asp

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
Thanks for joining us today and thanks for the questions. It's time for us to go now.

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
If you have any questions or comments regarding this chat format, we’d love to hear your feedback at edevfdbk@microsoft.com.

Moderator: mikefos (Microsoft)
Please see the chats schedule for upcoming topics.

For further information on this topic please visit the following:

Newsgroups: Mobile and embedded application development topics

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